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It was at their insurance agent father Ivan’s funeral nearly 12 years ago that Jan, now 53, realised everything wasn’t so happy in her ‘baby’ sister’s perfect life.

‘To me she had it all,’ said Jan, fighting to hold back tears as she spoke in the kitchen of her comfortable family home in Sandy, Utah.

L'Wren Scott as a young child in 1967. She grew up to become an internationally renowned fashion designer

Devastating: L'Wren Scott envied her big sister Jan Shane possibly more than anyone else in the world

L'Wren Scott who dated Mick Jagger for 13 years and was on first name terms with the rich and famous

‘She was going out with a Rolling Stone
and travelling to London and all around the world and I was a
stay-at-home mum who hasn’t really been anywhere.’

L’Wren, 49, still known by her real name of Luann Bambrough in Utah, had flown home to attend the funeral with a posse of bodyguards.

‘It was hard to get near her. I don’t know why she thought she needed bodyguards at our father’s funeral. I guess that’s just how her life was at the time.

'But at one point we stepped out together and she looked at me and said, “I envy you.”

'I know deep down she wanted a family and kids, and I think she deeply wanted it and couldn't get it. I think it bothered her,' said Jan.

The family of L'Wren Scott pictured in the mid-sixties. L'Wren is being held by her mother Lula and is with her brother Randy and sister Jan

L'Wren pictured with her mother Lula, father Ivan, brother Randy and sister Jan in the mid-sixties at their home

Happy times: The Bambrough family pictured together in the mid-sixties in Utah

Siblings: L'Wren, whose real name was Luann Bambrough, pictured with her brother Randy and sister Jan

‘She had her career and her company and
everything – she’d made it. I looked at her life I didn’t believe what
she was saying and she told me, “You have your family”. And I thought
“You do, too!”.’

Jan’s husband, Rob, who hasn't met Mick, added:
'(L'Wren) wanted a family, but she loved Mick, and the trade off was
that she was happy with him, and didn't want to give him up, but
couldn't have the family. I don't think he'd be up for having anymore
kids.'

Their
father’s funeral in 2002 – one year after the 6ft4in
model-turned-designer started dating Jagger – was one of only two times
Jan had seen her sister in recent years.

The other was at their mother Lula’s funeral in 2008. That was the last time the siblings spoke.

In
fact, Jan only found out about what had happened to L’Wren when she
received a text from a friend and then Googled her sister’s name.

L’Wren was adopted, as were her brother and sister, through the Mormon church family network.

Pictured from left to right: Randy (brother) Ivan (father) Lula (mother) Jan (sister) and L'Wren taken at the family home in 1978

The family of L'Wren Scott pictured together at her parent's 50th wedding anniversary in 1992

Photograph taken in 2000 with the whole Bambrough family, L'Wren (top left) mother and father Ivan and Lula, brother and sister Jan and Randy. Jan's eight children, husband and Randy's daughter

Religion was ever present as she grew
up in the nondescript hometown of Roy, about 30 miles from Salt Lake
City in the shadow of the Wasatch mountain range.

Her
father served as a High Priest and Bishop for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints – the Mormon Church – and the family were
all regulars in the Roy congregation.

In
such a town, L’Wren’s flamboyant nature and her sometimes outlandish
dress sense stood out and at 17 she headed for New York and never
looked back.

‘She had a dream right from
when she was a little girl that she was going to be a famous model and
designer and she achieved her dream. I give her credit for that,’ said
Jan.

Grieving: Jan Shane, the sister of L'Wren Scott, pictured with her husband Rob

The family home of L'Wren Scott's sister who is a mother-of-eight and lives in Utah where the siblings grew up

But she can’t help feeling that she could have prevented her sister’s suicide, if only she’d been given the chance.

‘It
is really sad. I wish we were closer. I would have always sat down with
her to talk things over if she was struggling.

'We had no clue she was
feeling like this. She must have felt so alone and it bothers me because
she always had us. I would have talked to her in a heartbeat. I just
hope she knew that,’ Jan said yesterday, wiping away tears.

‘If
I could just speak to Mick Jagger and ask him what my sister has been
doing for the last 13 years that would really be great. I could see in
her eyes from the pictures of when she was with him. She was happy.’

She said she heard that Mick had offered to pay the fashion
designer's mounting debts but L'Wren was 'too proud' to
accept his help.

However, they don't believe the
$6million L'Wren's crumbling business owed to creditors would have
driven her to suicide because 'in her world, that wasn't a lot of money'
and she had recently enlisted the financial help of her brother Randal
Bambrough who was 'really, really smart with money.'

Jagger and L'Wren: Friends say the Rolling Stone is so distraught he can barely speak

Jan
and husband Rob, 57, who runs the rubbish removal at nearby ski
resorts, believe it was L’Wren’s pride that stopped her from reaching
out for help either to Jagger or to her family.

Jan,
L’Wren and their older brother, Randall, were all adopted by loving,
caring parents. ‘We grew up in the same house and with the same values
and standards,’ said Jan.

‘She
had the same kind of love but chose a different kind of career. She may
have been the baby of the family but even when she was young she would
stand her ground. She was never going to let anybody put her down.

Tribute: Jagger posted this note and picture on his official website the day after his longtime partner L'Wren Scott was found dead in an apparent suicide

‘They wouldn’t let her be a cheerleader when she was in school because she was too tall but that didn’t stop her for a second. L’Wren was confident and knew where she stood in her life.’

Jan said her sister always knew she wanted to break free from the strictures of living in Roy.

‘She went to New York to do some nannying, then she started modelling and went into clothing, just as she always planned,’ said Jan. ‘She did it all.

In shock: Mick Jagger is seen leaving Coco's Restaurant in Perth, Western Australia, just moments after hearing the news of girlfriend L'Wren Scott's death

‘I couldn’t compete with her career and her money. It was a different circle she lived in. Our lives didn’t cross a whole lot. Our lifestyles were very different.’

That was particularly so once both parents had passed away and the family home in Roy was sold.

Tragically, Jan first heard the news of her sister’s death on Monday when a friend texted her to say she’d read something online.

'She has been estranged for some years from her brother, who flew to New York to officially identify his sister’s body.

Heartbreaking: The singer's face was etched with grief as he left the restaurant and got into a waiting car Monday night in Perth, where the band is scheduled to begin a tour

‘I googled L’Wren and discovered what had happened. I could hardly stand up. It was such a shock. Then my youngest called from school to tell me that she’d heard about it. It’s been very tough for all of us.’

Randall, known as Randy to the rest of the family, joined L’Wren’s company four years ago.

Jan knew nothing of her sister’s financial affairs, assuming that she had been well off. She is hoping that the death will at least bring her back together with her brother so they can lean on each other to handle the grief.

Flowers are left outside L'Wren Scott's apartment in New York where her body was discovered yesterday

Designer L'Wren Scott, pictured with Mick Jagger and his daughters Jade Jagger and Georgia Jagger, was found dead in her New York apartment this week

Jan’s husband, Rob, said the family would jokingly refer to Jagger as ‘Uncle Mick’ when they heard a Rolling Stones song on the radio or they would be talking about L’Wren.

Jagger never visited the family in Utah, but they were proud of the romance.

Jan said: ‘She was really on the private side. She never spoke to us about Mick Jagger or anything like that but we would follow her career online.

Jagger said he was 'devastated' and in shock after hearing the news about Scott, whom he had dated since 2001

The designer was reportedly found hanged inside her eight floor apartment in Manhattan by her assistant

'Our parents were always there for all of us all the time. They were extremely proud of her. Any time there was an article in the glamour magazines, mum would be beaming about it.’

Jan added: ‘If she had a family it would have hindered her career.

‘She made her choice to have the career. I was four years older and I was already married when she was graduating high school.

‘She was probably too proud. She wanted people to think she had the perfect lifestyle and certainly wouldn’t have wanted anyone to think differently. That would have been very important to her.’